Dr. Daskivich on Imaging Modalities in Prostate Cancer

Timothy J. Daskivich, MD, assistant professor of surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses developing and available imaging modalities in prostate cancer.

One of the new cutting-edge techniques for patients with clinically localized prostate cancer is high-intensity focused ultrasound. This has been around the United States since October 2015, and it enables focal treatment of prostate tumors rather than whole-gland treatment. This maximizes cancer control while minimizing morbidity, Daskivich says.

The multi-parametric MRI is an excellent modality for identifying high-grade tumors. It has a 20% miss rate, and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has developed a platform for high-resolution MRI that improves resolution over multi-parametric MRI by about six-fold, he adds. It identifies 60% of tumors that are invisible to multi-parametric MRI.

PET-MRI is another modality, but it is only available at a handful of centers across the United States; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is one of them. Ongoing clinical trials are investigating the use of PET tracers like fluciclovine to identify tumors within the prostate gland.